This is a line I have used ever since then when I am asked a question by my own nieces and nephews for something regarding my older sister and I. Recently, on a visit to the church of our childhood where my sister and I were both attending, we were re-introducing ourselves to some of the dear saints that we had not seen for a period of years.
"Are you Teresa or Betty?" I was frequently asked. Not that I thought we ever looked that much alike. "Oh, I am Betty," I would say with a smile, and Great Aunt Nola's glimmer in my eye. "Teresa is my much older sister!" But this time, the joke was on me! Teresa (now going by "Tess") had gotten to them all first. They already knew I was Betty, and she had coaxed them on what she was sure I was going to be saying to them! When they all started laughing, and saying,"Teresa, you were right!" I knew I had been had! I live eight hours away from my "much older sister" and however could she have known what I would say?! But the joke was on me, and my secret line from Great Aunt Nola was out!
Laughter among sisters and dear friends is precious. Oh, and Great Aunt Nola finally confessed that she did touch up her beautiful coal black hair with a little help from a bottle of hair dye from time to time. And Great Aunt Minnie, with her faded yellow hair, would just smile with the love of a "much older sister."
